Taxpayers group files suit against Solana Beach

PHIL DIEHL - Staff Writer

SOLANA BEACH -- The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and five
Solana Beach residents have filed a lawsuit against the city
claiming it is illegally charging homeowners $1.82 a month to cover
stormwater cleanup costs.

"We are going to contest it," Solana Beach City Attorney Jim
Lough said Friday. "The council has discussed it twice already and
has authorized the defense."

The lawsuit, filed March 16 in San Diego Superior Court, claims
that the fee is actually a tax, which can only be imposed after an
election with the approval of two-thirds of the voters. The Solana
Beach City Council approved the fee at a meeting last June.

The Taxpayers Association's lawsuit is similar to one it filed
against Encinitas in 2004. Encinitas, Solana Beach's neighbor to
the north, settled with the association by agreeing to hold an
election, in which voters rejected the proposed fee. The city plans
to issue refunds of about $85 to every Encinitas ratepayer later
this year.

Lough said Solana Beach's fee is different from the Encinitas
one, which was based on residents' water consumption. The Solana
Beach fee is based on solid waste, he said, because it keeps trash
and pollution from flowing into creeks, lagoons and the ocean.

"We collect it on a sliding scale based on cleaning up that
solid waste," Lough said. "It's not a flat fee."

Timothy Bittle, an attorney for the Taxpayers Association, said
the Solana Beach fee is "legally indistinguishable" from the one in
Encinitas.

"We have sued the city just to enforce the taxpayers' right to
vote on the thing," Bittle said.

Cities are creating these clean-water fees to free up money in
their general funds, he said, so they will have more money for
police and fire protection, street maintenance, and other
commonplace expenses.

But the law requires stormwater cleanup costs to be paid from
the general fund, Bittle said.

"It's just not right for cities to charge the fee," he said,
adding "As we learn about them, one by one, we are going after
them."

Solana Beach Finance Director Dennis Coleman said the City
Council held several public hearings and workshops before approving
the fee. The city has collected about $74,500 since it began in
September. So far, none of the money has been spent, he said.

A study completed by the city in May 2005 identified almost
$264,000 in additional annual costs created by the state's
requirements for stormwater cleanup. The city's calculations show
the fee would raise almost $199,000 a year toward covering those
costs, Coleman said.

Norma Ruhm, one of the five residents named as plaintiffs in the
lawsuit, said she decided something should be done after noticing
the fee on her bill. She said she and some of her friends contacted
the Taxpayers Association.

"We have had a number of little fees or charges tacked onto our
various bills lately," Ruhm said. "The council is free to do that,
but this one required a vote, and that was entirely bypassed.

"These charges add up," she said. "They never decrease, they
only increase."

While the fee is not much money to most homeowners, Ruhm said,
that's not what matters.

"The important thing is for it to be brought to everybody's
attention," she said. "People should feel they can bring these
things forward."